Game as a diagnostic tool in psychological counseling 1811
One of the most important tasks in the practice of family counseling is the timely identification and correction of unfavorable options in parent-child relationships (CPR). The problem of diagnosing parent-child relationships has a dual nature. The picture of relationships must be taken into account, on the one hand, from the point of view of an adult, and on the other, from the point of view of the child himself. These two visions of the family situation may not coincide and serve as a source of information for the consulting psychologist.
Let us consider the most labor-intensive and specific process of diagnosing a child’s experience of child-parent relationships. The younger the child, the more difficult it is to get information from him about how he feels, thinks, how he perceives interactions with parents, brothers and sisters, and other close people. Practice shows the insufficiency of diagnostic tools in this area. Among the most informative is the child's play. Play as one of the diagnostic tools for working with children has long attracted the attention of psychologists, since the play form of interaction has many advantages due to the deep symbolic meaning of the child’s play manifestations (M. Klein, G. L. Landred, S. Miller, V. Oaklander, etc. .).
In projective testing and advisory work, various types of director's games, dramatization games, and tests with toys based on the use of substitute objects (puppets, dolls, etc.) are quite widespread. Game diagnostics of a child’s intra-family experiences allows one to get closer to his real feelings and personal and semantic formations; understand the child’s methods of resolving conflict situations; identify the gender role and value patterns of behavior he accepts; obtain a detailed picture of the affectively modeled features of family interaction. However, at present, the parameters that allow the use of the game as a diagnostic tool in psychological counseling in case of violations of parent-child relationships have not yet been sufficiently studied and standardized.
Due to the high relevance of the problem of developing age-appropriate diagnostic tools in the field of family counseling, we conducted a study of the possibilities of using director's play as one of the types of role-playing games to identify the child's experiences of traumatic aspects of intrafamily interaction. The main goal of the study was to identify qualitative criteria for assessing play actions, allowing one to effectively diagnose the characteristics of parent-child relationships.
The study was carried out in several stages. Based on the primary diagnosis using the “Family Drawing” methods, widely known in the practice of family counseling, and a modified color relationship test, an area of trouble in family interaction was identified, which was characterized by the degree of trouble, reflected in the coefficient of trouble, and the presence of a problematic family member. The study identified forms of trouble in DROs. These include lack of family cohesion, non-acceptance of the child by an adult, ignoring any of the family members, intersibling conflicts, dominance of one of the family members. Cases of a pronounced positive, negative or ambivalent attitude towards any of the family members, identification with any family member (both positively and negatively experienced), the presence of groupings, coalitions in family interaction were analyzed.
The data obtained were correlated with the results of a specially developed diagnostic game “family”. The task was to show the significance and diagnostic productivity of the director's form of plot-role-playing play for studying the child's experiences of the intra-family situation.
The diagnostic lesson was structured as follows. The child played independently, he took the initiative in choosing the plot; he thought through the game actions of the characters, organized the mise-en-scène; He performed all the roles himself, accompanying the game with comments and explanations. During the diagnostic examination, the characteristics of role performance, the symbolism of role actions, and the nature of role speech were analyzed.
The gaming methodology included the following structural and formative parts:
Game material.
It is selected in such a way that it allows you to express a wide range of feelings of the child in a symbolic form; demonstrate the peculiarities of relationships and role distributions in the family.
Tactics of interaction between a psychologist and a child.
It is built on the basis of emotionally positive relationships, contains directive and non-directive elements, which allows the child to reproduce actions in the game that reflect his real experiences.
Directive components boil down to the fact that the psychologist invites the child to play “family.” During the game, the psychologist introduces conflict situations such as separation from a close adult, situations of oversight, etc. Non-directive components consist in allowing the child to choose the desired forms of behavior.
Formal and substantive criteria for assessing game actions.
The first block includes the duration and main content of the game, the degree of speech activity, and the speech forms used. The second block includes the dominant plot of the game, the main subject preferences, the severity of the emotional attitude, the presence of aggressive objects in the plot and intentional conflict situations, and the reaction to the end of the game.
Play material is divided into three categories: character toys with a fixed play function; play items for unstructured play; substitutes for household items.
The table below contains a list of game items used, indicating the symbolic functions assigned to each of them. The functions are not indicated in full, since when implementing game actions in a specific situation, additional functional interpretations are possible. The identified functions allow us to further interpret the semantic content of the game in projective-symbolic categories.
The attribution of symbolic functions to play objects originates from play therapy [18]. Game items for both therapy and diagnosis are selected based on their perceived associative significance. Among the most commonly used items are dolls representing adults and children of both sexes, furniture and other household items. It is assumed that playing with such material will reveal the child’s attitude towards the family, identify fears, aggressiveness, and rivalry [1].
The development of methodological support for game diagnostics of child-parent relationships was carried out in the domestic practice of A. S. Spivakovskaya and T. N. Pukhova.
The study of the characteristics of a child’s experiences of parent-child relationships was carried out in two stages. During the first stage of the study, a non-directive form of director's role-playing game was used. The second stage of the study included a directed (with the participation of a psychologist) family game. Of diagnostic importance is the choice of game objects and characters included in the modeling of the situation of family interaction, the affective attitude towards the characters that symbolize family members and the child himself, and the features of the plot reflecting the life of the family. The technique combines both directive and non-directive components, in contrast to completely non-directive free play.
The first stage of game diagnostics
The first diagnostic game is free. The child can play with all the toys. The way he wants, without external interference and restrictions. After the game, the child is given a simple and interesting task. For example, go through a maze, match objects by color or shape, find the “fourth wheel”. This allows you to complete the procedure on a positive emotional note.
During the game, the psychologist monitors the child. If difficulties arise, for example, if a child cannot start a game due to excessive timidity, the psychologist tries to intensify his play activity, express support, approval, and confirm permission to do whatever he wants with the toys.
The observation protocol records the indicators of the child’s motor and speech activity, as well as subject and subject preferences in the game. The protocol data are assessed according to certain diagnostic characteristics of gaming activity, which include two blocks of evaluation criteria. The first block reflects the formal characteristics of the game, the second - the individual characteristics of gaming activity.
Let us recall that the first block of criteria includes the following characteristics of the game: duration, main content, degree of speech activity, main speech forms used, features of gender-role identification, level of subject substitution, degree of space development, general level of game activity. The second block includes the dominant plot of the game, the main subject preferences, the degree of expression of the emotional attitude, the presence of aggressive objects in the plot, the presence of intentional conflict situations, and the reaction to the end of the game.
25 families with children of senior preschool age took part in our study. In 8 families, there was pronounced dysfunction in parent-child relationships. Thus, the sample consisted of 8 children aged 5 to 6 years.
The results of the study showed that the free game turned out to be quite heterogeneous in terms of storylines. The content of free play was mainly object-manipulative, with elements of role-playing behavior in some cases. The dominant themes in free play were conflicts between characters (36%) and everyday interactions (18%). There were also plots with the implementation of rule-based actions, various types of communications, and medical plots.
The child's choice of play items was motivated rather by a general preference for this type of toy. In most cases, objects with aggressive characteristics (64%) and noise objects (18%) were chosen for the game. The intensity of emotional attitudes toward characters, objects, and family members was at an average level (45%). It manifested itself in frequent repetitions of certain actions (manipulation of household or aggressive objects, noise actions), as well as in the frequent use of the same characters (Baba Yaga, dinosaur, doll). The majority of children showed a fairly high level of development of play (72%) and a high degree of speech activity during play (64%). The main forms of speech during the game were descriptive speech (45%), voicing actions (36%) and dialogue with a psychologist (82%).
Thus, based on the results of free play, a conclusion was made about the current level of development of play, about the individual characteristics of the child, about preferred play objects and actions. Data from free play can also be used to clarify the diagnostic information content of the selected characteristics of gaming activity, obtained during the subsequent conduct of directed play.
Second stage of game diagnostics
The second stage of diagnosis includes conducting a directed game “in the family” (method “One day in the life of my family”). It is used to identify the characteristics of a child’s experience of a family situation, to objectify real intra-family conflicts, to identify the child’s attitude towards members of his family and towards his place and family interaction.
Since the second game series is usually held some time after the first, the child is given time to navigate the situation and adapt to the subject environment. The focus of the game is that the child is invited to place “his family” in the playhouse, choose a day of the week and play it. If the child successfully accepts the game situation, the psychologist has minimal influence on the game, following the plot logic set by the child. The psychologist mainly limits himself to expressing interest, approval, support, and asking clarifying questions. The directive component of this role-playing game is the introduction of three types of conflicts into the procedure: separation of the mother (mom leaving on a business trip, to visit friends, relatives), causing material damage (a cup, plate broke), separation of the “I” (lost on a walk, behind on the road).
If the child does not accept the test situation, the psychologist becomes more actively involved in the game, taking on the director's function, choosing one of the roles for himself and gradually transferring the leading roles to the child. For example, a psychologist takes a character doll-mother and “leaves on a train on business,” thereby aggravating a conflict situation and pushing the child to respond.
In our study, we obtained results confirming the diagnostic significance of children’s directed playback of the plot “One day in the life of my family.” In a situation of directed play with a psychologist, the children showed greater emotional involvement in the game and a desire to continue it. It is interesting that the emotional expression of the attitude towards the game increased sharply in this series of experiments (directed “family” game).
The fact that the psychologist gives the child a direction in which further development of play actions is possible is an incentive for the child to subsequent plot transformations, but at the same time does not determine the nature of these transformations.
It is significant that the most striking stories from the first game can transfer into the second. The intervention of an adult does not affect the originality of the child’s play. The plot with a constant return to cooking, the functional use of an object in an unusual interpretation (for example, the return to the use of rope by various characters or the “eating” of a doll by Baba Yaga) carries over from the first game to the second, although they may be separated by certain periods of time. The individuality of the game is not lost during directed play.
The evaluation criteria of the game made it possible to combine the obtained data into certain subgroups. Games can be divided by roles, functional meanings of game objects and features of game actions.
1. According to the direction of the dominant plot, the following are distinguished:
- conflict interactions - war, catching bandits, trying to hide from Baba Yaga, actions in the police station, snake attack;
- household - cooking, walking, furnishing the house, going to bed;
- medical - vaccinate, treat;
- communicative - arrival of guests, visiting;
- rule-compliant actions - performing stereotypical actions (regime moments, “seller-buyer” relationships).
2. According to subject preferences, the following are distinguished:
- functional-aggressive - Baba Yaga, dinosaur, soldiers, snake, etc.;
- noise toys - mechanical “Thumbelina”, car, bubo;
- household items - dishes, furniture, food analogues;
- substitute objects - rope, cubes;
- medical supplies - syringe, thermometer;
- dolls
3. According to the severity of the emotional attitude, the following are distinguished:
- attitude towards an aggressive character, action (Baba Yaga catches Kuzya, war, bullying of a pet dog, snake attack on mother);
- attitude towards positive interaction - modeling family integrity (“we all drink tea together”, “grandmother came to visit us”, “I help my mother wash the dishes”).
4. Based on the presence of intentional conflict situations, the following are distinguished:
- war;
- attack on a character;
- character separation.
Of the directed conflicts of the “family” game, the most pronounced is a successful way out of the situation “I’m lost” (82%) and the situation of the mother leaving on a business trip, going to visit friends and relatives (45%). The greatest rejection of the conflict was in the situation of causing material damage (36%). There is also a large number of unfavorable exits (36%). The subjects explained the successful resolution of separation from their mother by the fact that they could stay at home with their grandmother, father, someone close to them, and even stay in kindergarten. The situation of separation from the mother most sensitively reveals heightened attachment to the mother, a possible lack of warmth in communication with her and other acute manifestations of trouble in the parent-child relationship.
Causing material damage is the most common conflict in real life. Not accepting this situation as a conflict is diagnostic. The game allows us to identify cases of a child’s fear of harsh sanctions from an adult; it reflects the hyper-socializing tendencies of the educational position towards a child on the part of an adult. It becomes unacceptable for a child to break a cup or plate, even by accident, and, accordingly, he does not see a constructive way out of this situation, replacing it with rationalization (“but it was plastic and did not break,” etc.) or completely ignoring this situation (“ no, this can’t happen”, “I never do this”).
Internal discomfort from experiencing disturbed parent-child relationships is reflected in the subjects’ choice of a gaming subject environment. The selection of family members and characters suitable for them to participate in the acting out of the plot “One day in the life of your family” showed information value in identifying such possible forms of family dysfunction as rejection, non-acceptance of real interactions with a certain family member, deprivation of the need for close positive contact with significant adults .
Along with the reflection of the real composition of the family in the game, an expansion of the family composition was observed due to peers, animals, and grandparents not living together (36%). The choice of characters for family members was generally appropriate in terms of age and gender characteristics (64%). Larger dolls were chosen for the role of parents, and smaller ones for the role of children. At the same time, inadequate character positions were observed in 36% of cases (dominance of a sister/brother—choosing a larger doll for a younger sibling, understatement or exaggeration of one’s own role in the family—choosing a baby figurine or a large doll).
Thus, directed play made it possible to reveal a picture of the child’s emotional attitude towards his family members against the background of a general increase in the level of play activity, verbal activity, and the child’s interest in the diagnostic situation. Based on the results of the diagnostic game, we identified groups of disadvantages in accordance with who is the main problematic, psychologically traumatic person in the family for the child:
- conflictual relationships with the mother - options for experiencing rejection on her part, coldness, dominance, excessive demands or inconsistency;
- conflictual relationships with the father or other adult family members - options for experiencing distance, dominance of one of the family members, lack of joint activities;
- intersibling conflicts - experiencing jealousy, sibling dominance, aggression, lack of cooperative relationships;
- mixed conflicts - possible overlap of conflict lines, experiencing difficulties in interacting with several family members, or periodic changes in sources of conflict.
Children who showed an area of conflict in their relationship with their mother during the role-playing game “in the family” had a high degree of expression of the following characteristics of the game: the conflict orientation of the dominant plot (100%), the severity of the emotional attitude towards aggressive objects and actions (67%). In most cases, an extended family composition (67%) and a successful and constructive way out of test conflicts (56%) are shown. At the same time, the choice of a characteristic character to fulfill the role of “I” was not revealed. But for a problematic family member (mother), the character was chosen to be adequate based on gender and age (67%). It is interesting that, compared to other groups, the level of development of play activity in this group of children is slightly reduced, and the time of play is increased. Violations of DRO in the sphere of interaction with the mother are manifested in the game in the conflicting nature of game actions, the use of aggressive characters and the expansion of the gaming family composition.
Children who showed a violation of DRO in the area of interaction with their father, unlike children of other groups, often exclude someone from the family (50%) or include pets in it (50%). This group of subjects used intentional conflicts in the plot with attacks on characters (100%) and more often ignored test conflict situations (50%). In 50% of cases, the subjects chose game objects that were aggressive in function as a character to realize the role of “I.”
In intersibling conflicts, plots that model communicative interactions are expressed (33%). The family composition is expanding (67%), with the simultaneous exclusion of a problematic family member (33%). The exits from test conflicts are, in most cases, successful (56%). The “I” character is chosen to be adequate in size and gender.
In the mixed form of DRO violations, in the absence of a clear localization of traumatic experiences, the focus of the main plot is the most diverse (conflict, everyday, medical). The game's emotional relationships lean towards positive character interactions for the most part. The composition of the family is chosen to be adequate to the real one (67%). The choice of character for a problematic family member is also adequate (100%).
Summarizing the results of the game, it should be noted that for those children who are in a disharmonious relationship with their mother, the role-playing game is the most conflict-ridden in content, and is characterized by a distortion of the simulated family composition towards its expansion and the inclusion of pets. At this age, for a child, the mother is the most significant and closest member of the family, so conflict in relationships with her is especially painful for the child. The ego was clearly reflected in the diagnostic role-playing game. If there is a disharmonious relationship with the father, there are more characters and aggressive actions in the game. The role position of “I” is subordinate. The father dominates, and his aggressive, powerful position is the identification play model for the child. In the series of disharmonious relationships under consideration, the least traumatic is the conflict with the sibling. The role-playing game objectified the most characteristic feature of this type of conflict - the lack of symmetrical positive communications. The simulated family composition is expanded to include peers, test conflicts (where the main characters are parents) are resolved safely.
The identified features of game modeling for certain types of disturbed intra-family relationships make it possible to establish the general characteristics of games depending on the type of DRO violations. In this context, generalized gaming strategies used in modeling family relationships are highlighted.
Gaming Strategies
(if there is an experience of family disharmony):
- introducing aggressive, protest, conflict elements into the game. The expression of aggressive-offensive or defensive tendencies can be either symbolic (choice of the appropriate character) or direct (choice of plot action);
- leveling one’s own activity, modeling passivity, depression, subordination to external circumstances (in symbolic or direct form);
- defensive embellishment, idealization of family interactions, showing family life as exclusively festive, and one’s role in it as approved by everyone, with evaluative praise from all family members;
- emotional neutrality, reproduction of standard, neutral, rule-based game actions in showing relationships between family members (performing routine moments, stereotypical everyday interactions).
As a result of the analysis of protocols of role-playing games with a given plot “Family” according to the criteria “type of DRO violation” and “type of game strategy”, their most characteristic relationships were identified.
To localize conflict relationships in the sphere of interaction with the mother, the following strategies are typical for this sample: offensive or defensive aggression and passive experience of subordination.
To illustrate the paired type of DRO violations, we will give an example of the game protocol of Zhenya M. (6 years old). In modeling family relationships, the girl showed a strong preference for the plot involving the kidnapping of the youngest family member by Baba Yaga. The subject took on the role of the youngest family member, and with inadequate gender-role identification. She chose the figure of a boy for herself as a character, and named him Kuzey. According to the plot, Baba Yaga came to the house where the family lived, at a time when no one was home, and took Kuzya to her place with the comments: “Baba Yaga needs lunch.” Kuzya is initially saved by Kuzya’s friend. The second time - “beauty elf”. Neither mother nor grandmother make any attempts to free Kuzya, although they live with him in the house. The reaction to mom’s test separation (mom is leaving on a business trip) is calm. But as soon as the mother leaves, telling the identification character (Kuza): “Behave well, don’t be afraid of anything. I’m leaving my grandmother with you,” Baba Yaga immediately appears. Grandma is trying to protect the house and Kuzya. To aggravate the situation, the subject suggests sending her grandmother on a business trip. The game showed that in the eyes of the child, family integrity is constantly subject to external destructive influence. Further consultative work with Zhenya M. could be carried out in line with the objectification of the experiences that the child experiences in connection with the character of Baba Yaga. They may be associated with an absent father or another relative from the family, or with some traumatic situations in the family. Moreover, it is necessary to take into account that when a girl defends her own position in a destructive conflict, she does not experience the reliability of her mother; she does not look for support in her mother, a source of stability.
The second type of DRO violations (experience of disharmony in relationships with the father) is characterized by the following play strategies: offensive/defensive aggression and emotionally neutral play actions.
As an illustration, we give an example from the game protocol of Artem S. (5.5 years). Features of the role position in the family are revealed immediately at the beginning of the game. Artem chose a character for himself - a baby, which is a factor indicating the experience of his own incompetence and submission to circumstances. The boy mainly reproduces routine scenes from the life of the family. Mom prepares breakfast, cooks dumplings (a detailed description of the process is “wait 10 minutes until they are cooked and serve”). Her son helps her. The general activity with the mother is shown in the actual absence of her with the father: “The son began to eat, ate and went to bed. And dad went for a walk in the yard. I didn’t take my son with me.” The mother punishes in case of material damage (the child broke a cup), takes measures to separate the character symbolizing the child. At best, the father goes to talk to the kitchen with the mother (while the character symbolizing the boy cries in his room after punishment) or goes to the store for a “Kinder surprise”.
An example of the third type of violations expressed in the game (intersibling conflict) can be the game protocol of Changi N. (6 years old). Defensive embellishment is manifested in the fact that family interaction takes place against the background of a holiday, the arrival of guests, the preparation of cakes, and the decoration of the playhouse. All actions of the character symbolizing the child are socially approved, usually deserving of praise in family interactions. Test situation - separation of “I”: “Mom will look. I'm standing, not going anywhere. I'm not crying". According to the story, guests arrived: “I bring it to the table myself. I'm collecting. We need a flower for the table. Birthday". The next “day after the guests arrive”: “I sweep and wipe the table. I make everything beautiful. Mum has come home. “Oh, how beautiful!” - she said". The family is shown expanded due to the appearance of a “second daughter” (in reality, Changi has an older brother). The brother is not included in family interaction; not even a character doll has been chosen for him. There are many joint activities of an affiliative nature with peers (the girls sleep together, help the nanny together, the nanny reads books to them). This game turned out to be very long, and the girl had no desire to finish it. At the end of the game, a deeper layer of conflict was revealed. The family packs up and flies to Vietnam. Moreover, he takes all the things from the house and transports them to the new house. Dad remains “to work in Russia.” This plot transformation may be a reflection of dissatisfaction with the social status of the family, non-acceptance of the specifics of family relationships.
Disharmonious family relationships of the fourth type (lack of pronounced subjective localization of the experience of disharmony) showed the greatest variation in gaming strategies. Aggressive, passive, and emotionally neutral tendencies are observed here.
Let's take as an example the game protocol of Nastya F. (5.8 years old). In a family game where a child is sick, the activity of the character symbolizing this girl is reduced to a minimum. She is treated mainly by those around her (mother, girlfriends). At the same time, she chose an inadequately large character doll for herself (the same size as her mother), even at the end of the game the girl goes to work and buys a dress for herself (i.e., the final transformation into an adult). After the test situation “mom’s separation” was resolved, which happened on the whole successfully (the daughter stays at home with dad), the mother returns from a business trip: “Mom comes and calls. She doesn't have the keys. My daughter has already gone to bed and doesn’t open it. Dad heard, got up, and opened it. They are happy and say hello. Dad goes to bed next. Mom goes to the kitchen to eat and watch TV. She approached her daughter, leaned over, and didn’t say anything. Then she went into the kitchen.” There is a contrast between the meeting between mother and father and daughter. Moreover, this behavior of the mother does not cause any subsequent reactions from the daughter.
The conflict with the mother is also reflected in indirect external influences on her. It’s not just anyone who goes to accompany Mom on a business trip, but a snake. When parting, the snake “kisses its mother’s face” with its open mouth. Or at the end of the game they call their daughter at work and say that her mother is sick at home and she needs to come to treat her. The negative impact on the mother causes her painful conditions and experiences. In this case, violations of the DRO are of a mixed nature. This is confirmed by the fact that there was no place or even a character in the game for the sibling, who is actually present in the family. At the very beginning of the game, Nastya cut off attempts to attract her sibling’s character into the game: “She’s too small.”
conclusions
The study made it possible to identify the possibilities of a directed role-playing game “in the family” in diagnosing the characteristics of a child’s experience of family troubles. The experience of family dysfunction manifested itself during the game in the replaying of episodes characteristic of the child, modeling specific interactions of the characters; getting stuck on the most significant plot episode - identifying oneself or any family member with a character that causes fear, isolating a character; demonstrations of affection between characters.
The identified forms of trouble confirm the data on the characteristics of problem areas obtained during the “Family Drawing” methods and the modified color relationship test. In the course of the study, it was shown that the method we developed for the directed role-playing game “One Day in the Life of My Family” serves as an adequate diagnostic tool for identifying the characteristics of a child’s experience of DRO. Although our results do not indicate the complete predominance of one or another gaming strategy in certain disorders of DRO, they can nevertheless be useful in diagnosing the characteristics of intrafamily interactions. This technique can be used in diagnostic work to identify the causes of violations of parent-child relationships.
Outdoor didactic games
ACTIVITY AND DIDACTIC GAMES
In free play activities, as well as during walks with preschoolers, using games with movements, you can solve a whole range of educational tasks. In walks - trips outside the kindergarten site, the unusual situation and conditions require the same unusual games, taking into account the natural environment, weather conditions, terrain, and the mood of the children.
The games offered include a variety of tasks and are recommended for older preschoolers. These are fun, situational games that activate attention, memory and emotions, built on movements. They closely combine the content of ecological, natural history, sensorimotor, and health-improving orientations. There are games for walks at different times of the year in the forest, meadow, and near a pond using a variety of natural materials. They widely use literary material: riddles, proverbs, sayings, poems. Many of the proposed games can also be played on the kindergarten site and indoors.
FIND A TREE
Target.
improve movements in natural conditions; practice orientation in space. Practice speed and agility; consolidate ideas about trees; enrich your active vocabulary.
Material.
Incentive chips, leaves, fruits, tree branches.
Game content
The teacher names a tree (spruce, birch, etc.), suggests finding such a tree, running (walking, jumping) to it and wrapping your arms around it. They examine the trees and find among them the largest, the shortest, the oldest, the youngest, the most spreading, the most powerful, the most beautiful. Elements of competition are used: who will find their tree faster?
The child who completes the task correctly receives an incentive chip. The winner is the one with the most chips.
Rules:
1) the movement used in the game is specified in advance;
2) only the one who not only ran, but also grabbed the tree first, receives an incentive chip.
Game options.
Children run to the tree whose twig, leaf or fruit the teacher shows; children are invited to find the same leaf on the ground and run with it to the desired tree, etc.
Option 2.
“One, two, three... Run to the largest (low, etc.) tree!” After this, they try to reach the goal as quickly as possible.
GET IT BY YOUSELF
Target.
Speech exercises using prepositions; consolidate movements in natural conditions; develop observation and attention.
Game content
The teacher gives the children the first part of the task, and they come up with the second part themselves. For example, the teacher says: “Everyone ran and hid behind...” Children must find different objects and hide behind them (behind a tree, a bush, behind each other). Subsequent tasks could be like this: jumped up to...; circled and crouched under...; walked backwards and leaned against...; held hands and jumped to... .
Rules:
1) select movements exactly according to the verbal task;
2) choose different objects for movements.
HIDE THE OBJECT AND DESCRIBE THE WAY TO IT
Target.
Develop observation, attention, and the ability to accurately describe the situation.
Game content
The presenter hides an object and then explains the way to it. The one who finds the item is considered the winner. If the item is not found, the leader must go to it himself, repeating the explanation. In this way, the accuracy of the description of the road to the hidden object is checked.
Rules:
1) explain the way to the hidden object as accurately as possible;
2) by agreement of the players, the item can be in plain sight or carefully disguised.
ACCURATE SHOOTER
Target.
Strengthen throwing skills; develop eye and dexterity.
Material.
Small objects for throwing.
Game content
On a straight line, you need to dig five holes 10-15 cm apart. At a distance of 1 m before the first hole, the starting line for the throw is marked. The player, having in his hands five objects for throwing (pebbles, cones, acorns, chestnuts, etc.), throws them one at a time into each hole, starting with the nearest one. The winner is the one who completes the task more accurately.
Rules:
1) when performing a throw, do not step over the line;
2) hitting any hole counts, regardless of the sequence of its location.
OBEDIENT PEBBLE
Target.
Practice manual motor skills; consolidate various throwing methods; develop dexterity, speed, attention, memory.
Material.
Small pebbles.
Game content
Consistently perform different types of throws: throw a pebble from hand to hand; throw and catch a pebble with one hand (right and left alternately); throw a pebble with one hand and catch it with the other hand; throw a pebble up and catch it with both hands; throw a pebble up with two hands and catch it with one and vice versa; roll a pebble between your palms; roll a pebble with one hand around the palm of the other; throw from above with one hand and manage to catch the falling pebble with both hands (later with one); throw and catch a pebble with a clap while flying. The same movements are repeated with two pebbles. The first time the movements are performed according to the demonstration, then - according to the name.
Rules:
1) perform movements correctly, differentiate them by name;
2) the person who dropped the pebble receives a penalty point;
3) the one who has fewer or no penalty points wins.
MY FIND
Target.
Strengthen movements in natural conditions; develop observation, attention, imagination.
Game content
Children are invited to disperse around the clearing, find something and bring their finds to a certain place. Then all the finds are examined and suggestions are made about what can be done with them. For example, a dry, light stick 80-100 cm long is similar to the staff that forest fairy-tale characters carry. Children are invited to portray any hero (gnome, Baba Yaga, Koshchei, etc.). The same stick can be used for jumping - put it on the ground and jump over it in different ways (along, straight, sideways, backwards, on one and two legs, etc.). A strong, lightweight pole up to 1.5 m long can be used to jump over a narrow ditch, leaning on it. Other finds are considered from the same perspective - acorns, acorn cups, cones from various trees, leaves, pebbles.
Rules:
1) when choosing a find, you need to come up with several options for its use;
2) at the end of the game, the best ways to play with the found objects are named.
DON'T WET YOUR FEET
Target
. Practice jumping, agility, and speed.
Material.
Various natural materials.
Game content
A stream 50-80 cm wide is laid out from twigs, cones (sticks, pebbles, etc.). Children are divided into two teams. One of the teams lines up along the stream and, at a signal, the other jumps over the stream. The one who could not overcome the obstacle is eliminated from the team. The other team jumps in the same way. The team that finishes the game with the most players wins.
Rules:
1) with each repetition of the game, the width of the stream gradually increases;
2) the jump is performed by all players simultaneously;
3) the number of repetitions of the game is agreed upon in advance.
STITCHES - TRACKS
Target.
Strengthen motor skills in natural conditions; develop dexterity, memory, attention.
Game content
Children in a column move behind the leader, exactly repeating his movements. The leader’s task is to lead the children like a snake between the trees, choosing the most convenient road and changing movements as often as possible (they walk in different ways, run, move forward by jumping, etc.). The presenter who comes up with the most moves is considered the winner.
Rules:
1) the leader, before changing the movement, stops the column and calls the next movement;
2) the leader changes if he repeats a previously used movement or names the movement incorrectly;
3) those walking in the column must accurately repeat the proposed movements.
WIND AND BREEZES
Target.
Exercise in various types and methods of walking and running, develop attention and speed of reaction to a signal.
Game content
The leader (the wind) performs movements: running in different directions, with different positions of the hands, with high knees, circling and squatting, wide strides, gallop, etc. The winds must repeat them exactly.
Rules:
1) movements by all players must be performed correctly and clearly;
2) the one who performed the movement incorrectly or was late leaves the game.
PRECISION JUMP
Target.
Practice various methods of jumping and landing accuracy, spatial orientation; develop attention and self-esteem.
Material.
Incentive chips.
Game content
Everyone draws a circle for themselves and stands in its center. At the signal, the children jump and, turning 180° in the air, land inside the circle. When repeating, a double jump is used, jumping on one leg, with eyes closed, etc. Children themselves evaluate how successful their jump was: for a correct assessment, they receive an incentive chip each time.
Rules:
1) correctly perform the proposed jump method (without prior demonstration);
2) start moving at the signal;
3) be able to evaluate the correctness of your jump and the accuracy of your landing.
PARACHUTTER
Target.
Improve jumping skills in natural conditions, consolidate the names of jumping methods; develop dexterity, attention, precision of movements.
Material.
Incentive chips.
Game content
Near a stump (logs, hummocks) a circle is trampled in the sand (made of cones). Children take turns jumping from the stump into a circle. An incentive chip is given to the one who lands exactly in the center of the circle. You can prepare two or three circles with a gradual distance from the jump site. The winner is determined by the number of incentive chips received.
Rules:
1) jump at the signal, landing on your toes, maintaining balance;
2) a complicated jump is encouraged (with a turn in the air, backwards, sideways, etc.).
FLIGHT – UNDERFLIGHT
Target.
Practice different throwing methods; develop attention and reaction speed.
Material.
Cones for the number of children, incentive chips.
Game content
All together, the children look for two trees or bushes of different heights growing nearby and throw cones over them. A player who throws a cone over a low tree gets one point, and a higher one gets two points. The winner is determined by the number of incentive chips received.
Rules:
1) the cone must fly over the tree; a pine cone stuck in the branches or under-flying does not give a point;
2) the throw is performed alternately at the signal.
WHO WILL THROW THE SPEAR FURTHER
Target.
Practice throwing; develop attention and dexterity.
Material.
Twigs, ribbons, incentive chips.
Game content
A spear is made from a twig found on the ground, to which a bunch of grass or a ribbon is tied. Children stand along the path (drawn line) and throw a spear, exactly fulfilling the teacher’s instructions: whoever throws further, higher; hit the target (the barrel, the drawn circle), etc. The number of throws and correctly completed tasks is counted using incentive chips.
Rules:
1) everyone makes a spear for themselves;
2) the throw is performed simultaneously upon a signal;
3) children choose the throwing method independently.
LEAF FALL
Target.
Strengthen motor skills in natural conditions; develop dexterity, graceful movements, attention, observation.
Material.
A light scarf or ring with multi-colored ribbons of different lengths tied to it.
Game content
The teacher says the words: “Leaves are falling, falling, leaves are falling in our forest, yellow, red leaves are curling and flying in the wind...” Then, waving a scarf or ring, he tells the children that he will represent the wind, and they will represent leaves, and offers various game tasks, for example: “There is no wind - the leaves have fallen asleep” (everyone crouches, closes their eyes), “The wind blew and blew the leaves” (children move in different directions - straight, sideways, backwards), “The leaves began to spin in place... the wind died down “The leaves are resting,” etc. The role of the wind can be assigned to one of the children.
Rules:
1) children must select the most appropriate movements for the task and perform them emotionally and gracefully;
2) movements should begin and end exactly at the signal.
ON THE PAINTED PATH
Target.
Improve walking skills in different ways in natural conditions; develop observation, intelligence, creativity, endurance.
Game content
A presenter is selected. He stands in front of the column and draws a path: he walks along the sand, trying to leave a kind of pattern of footprints (he walks with a wide, narrow, side step, back forward, placing his foot straight, at different angles). In this case, a certain repeatability of the pattern should be provided. Children must follow each other one after the other, exactly repeating the pattern. The winners (there may be several) are those who complete the task correctly.
Rules:
1) the leader must leave clear footprints and a certain pattern on the ground;
2) players measure the length and placement of their steps exactly with those marked on the ground.
TARGET
Target.
Improve throwing skills in natural conditions; consolidate knowledge of the names of coniferous trees.
Material.
Stick, string, pine cones.
Game content
Several circles are drawn on the ground, one inside the other, using a stick with a string tied at the end and stuck into the ground (the device is used as a compass). Children take turns (by agreement or drawing lots) to throw cones into the circles, trying to get into the central one. For getting into the central circle, 5 points are given, for each subsequent one - one less. The one with the most points is considered the winner.
Rules:
1) children first collect ten cones (spruce, pine) for themselves, arrange them in a row;
2) before throwing a pine cone, you must name what tree it comes from. If the tree is named incorrectly, the player loses one throw;
3) everyone counts the points themselves (there may be different options for counting: in the mind, putting aside sticks or other small objects according to the number of points).
GO TO THE CALL
Target.
Develop auditory attention; practice orientation in space; improve movements in unusual conditions.
Material.
Bell, blindfolds.
Game content
Select a flat lawn where there are no bushes. The players line up in one line at a distance of two or three steps from each other and blindfold themselves. The teacher moves 15-20 m away from them and rings the bell. All players must follow this sound. After the second bell rings, everyone stops and takes off their bandages. The one who is closest to the teacher wins. The game can be made more difficult by changing direction several times before the children remove the blindfold.
Rules:
1) you should stand facing the bell. The one who stands sideways or with his back is considered a loser;
2) remove the bandage only after a signal, do not peek from under the bandage.
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